and what happened when Rand said the maidens carry his honor? was it just a spur of the moment thing or some reason for it?

Quote:

TSR, Chapter 57
Egwene moved her gray close to Jeade’en; the dapple stallion tried to nuzzle Mist and got nipped for his trouble. “You’ve not given me any chance to speak to you since Cold Rocks, Rand.” He said nothing; she was Aes Sedai now, and not just because she called herself one. He wondered if she had spied on his dreams, too. Her face looked tight, her dark eyes tired. “Do not keep to yourself, Rand. You do not fight alone. Others do battle for you, too.”

Frowning, he tried not to look at her. His first thought was of Emond’s Field and Perrin, but he did not see how she could know where Perrin had gone. “What do you mean?” he said finally.

“I fight for you,” Moiraine said before Egwene could open her mouth, “as does Egwene.” A look flashed between the two women. “People fight for you who do not know it, any more than you know them. You do not realize what it means that you force the form of the Age Lace, do you? The ripples of your actions, the ripples of your very existence, spread across the Pattern to change the weave of life-threads of which you will never be aware. The battle is far from yours alone. Yet you stand in the heart of this web in the Pattern. Should you fail, and fall, all fails and falls. Since I cannot go with you into Alcair Dal, let Lan accompany you. One more pair of eyes to watch your back.” The Warder turned slightly in his saddle, frowning at her; with the Shaido veiled for killing, he would not be eager to leave her alone.

Rand did not think he was supposed to have seen that look pass from Moiraine to Egwene. So they had a secret to keep from him. Egwene did have Aes Sedai eyes, dark and unreadable. Aviendha and the Maidens had come back to him. “Let Lan stay with you, Moiraine. Far Dareis Mai carries my honor.”

Moiraine’s mouth tightened at the corners, but apparently that was exactly the right thing to say so far as the Maidens were concerned. Adelin and the others donned wide grins.

seems spur of the moment/Will of the Pattern
the links I sent you could reveal the rest

I had an aversion to LoC after reading it for YEARS. I had to do an intense, like 100 page, book report for it in highschool and it was just too big a bite for me. Everytime I looked at it afterwards I shuddered. I skipped in a re-read at least once, and just picked it back up again maybe 2 years ago for the re-read for JordanCon. Good book - I was surprised! LOL

weird. I'm having a bit of trouble with tSR. Was going light-speed up until tSR but now I'm... lagging. Possibly because what I REALLY want to do is get to LoC already.

I was talking to an oldtimer from rasfwrj a couple of days ago about her signing reports, and one of the things I asked her was why the fandom thought that LOC seemed like 'half a book' (this question was asked a few times on the LOC signing tour). I told her I thought that was odd, since LOC is a fan favorite these days. She went on to say that she felt like RJ started to slow down with TSR, and that TDR was his best book, so tightly-plotted, etc. I've heard that opinion before from some of the oldest WoT fans. Anyway, I mentioned to her that the fan favorites these days are generally 4-6. TSR is my favorite just because all of the major characters do something awesome in that book, some of them quite a few awesome things. It's probably the biggest development book of the series - a lot of stuff was set up then.

I was talking to an oldtimer from rasfwrj a couple of days ago about her signing reports, and one of the things I asked her was why the fandom thought that LOC seemed like 'half a book' (this question was asked a few times on the LOC signing tour). I told her I thought that was odd, since LOC is a fan favorite these days. She went on to say that she felt like RJ started to slow down with TSR, and that TDR was his best book, so tightly-plotted, etc. I've heard that opinion before from some of the oldest WoT fans. Anyway, I mentioned to her that the fan favorites these days are generally 4-6. TSR is my favorite just because all of the major characters do something awesome in that book, some of them quite a few awesome things. It's probably the biggest development book of the series - a lot of stuff was set up then.

yeah, I can see what you mean by things slowing down after tDR. I think it's also the fact that in EotW, the main POV was Rand, and everybody stayed together, pretty much, throughout the whole book. Starting from tGH, other characters start getting POV's but the main action stays pretty concentrated on the main characters, and by the end of the book they all end up together. But starting from tSR, they all branch out, each on their own path, and they don't all meet up again - all of them, together, until... hmm... now that I think on it, I think ever. The last time Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene, Elayne, Nynaeve, Lan, Thom, (and Moiraine) were ALL together was at the end of tDR/beginning of tSR, I think.

ETA: d'you think I maybe used "I think" too much?

__________________Homo sapiens non urinat in ventum

Theoryland Siren

Bonded to JWB

A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.
-- Winston Churchill

I was talking to an oldtimer from rasfwrj a couple of days ago about her signing reports, and one of the things I asked her was why the fandom thought that LOC seemed like 'half a book' (this question was asked a few times on the LOC signing tour). I told her I thought that was odd, since LOC is a fan favorite these days. She went on to say that she felt like RJ started to slow down with TSR, and that TDR was his best book, so tightly-plotted, etc. I've heard that opinion before from some of the oldest WoT fans. Anyway, I mentioned to her that the fan favorites these days are generally 4-6. TSR is my favorite just because all of the major characters do something awesome in that book, some of them quite a few awesome things. It's probably the biggest development book of the series - a lot of stuff was set up then.

Half a book? The thing is a bloody brick! LOL. More thanenough happens in LOC to keep even the most ADHD fans happy, imo. But again, biased.